Month: February 2003

The illustrations in this posting were all for the Wall Street Journal in February of ’03. The above illustration was to run in black and white (I don’t remember the topic of this one, but I get the impression that the well has run dry), but the designer asked me to also provide a small color version for the contents page as a ‘teaser’ (pictured left).

I also had my monthly quota of ‘health care’ spots (also for the Journal) for the weekly column that I contribute to. Up to this point I had been working on this column for about a year, and all of them had been in black and white. The following month, occasionally I would be asked to provide color versions of the illustrations, and by ’06-07 I would be routinely supplying this column with both a color and black and white version of each illustration. The topics this month were: baldness cures, fitness trainers (my favorite this month), water purifiers, and something about doctor visits (I don’t remember exactly).

Also, for the same client, was the ‘bear market’ illustration below.

Around this time, my brother in law was working as a CFO for a large company down in Florida, and he happened to mention that he got a kick out of seeing my illustrations appear in this particular newspaper. I thought I’d be a little sneaky and put his face in a few of the illustrations this month. They aren’t particularly very good likenesses, but he can be found among the ‘bucket holders’ in the background of the top illustration, and also inspecting a bottle of ‘hair growth’ medicine in one of the ‘health care’ spots.

The illustrations to the right and left were a pair of bookends for a Sunday chart about global investing. I wasn’t quite set in my ways about how to approach the ‘globe’ assignment, but this one turned out pretty well despite a rather unorganized approach. I don’t usually like to use the ‘crosshatch’ technique in scratchboard, but sometimes it makes a nice visual change of pace from the usual parallel lines.

I also had a piece for the same client this month featuring the Korean dictator who was so much in the news starting about now. I tried to keep the colors a bit dull and greyish, considering the subject matter.

These illustrations were for AG Edwards in February. Due to a contractual arrangment with this particular client, I’m only posting samples of these assignments once a certain period of time has elapsed (five years for all, just to be on the safe side, even though some were only contracted for a 3 year usage). I’ll be adding more illustrations from this client’s database as the months and years pass. These were mostly for in house advertising programs, or for quarterly customer newsletters.

I had a rather large cartoon illustration for one of my east coast newspaper clients. This one concerned the new policies being adopted by the airlines where they would start cutting back on food service and allow passengers to bring their own food on board. I had a lot of fun with this one. While they are generally more work than the usual assignment, I like the chance to do a ‘busy’ scene with lots of chances to hide little bits of subversive humor all over the place.
I also had a piece on Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations. This was the first time I’d been given the chance to draw Mr. Powell, surprisingly enough, considering how much he’s been in the news over the past 10 years.

Also, for the same client, was the color illustration below. I dont’ remember this one too well, and I don’t know why there are burgers that look like ‘the earth’ being fried on a skillet. I remember having a hard time making these burgers ‘look’ like burgers. I still don’t think I quite succeeded.

The above illustration was for a legal newspaper client of mine. I remember being rather nervous about this one. It was supposed to depict the inside of the Supreme Court chambers (something I’d never seen), and I was having trouble finding good reference for the room, and I knew that the client, being based in Washington DC was probably more familiar with the room than I was. I hope I came at least close.

The illustration above was one that I had this month for an educational publication. I don’t remember the topic of this one all too clearly.
And finally, I had a couple of cartoon assignments for regular clients this month. The alien at the chalkboard above, was for my semi-regular ‘puzzle page’ feature that I’d been contributing to for a children’s science periodical. I’d done a few ‘aliens’ for this feature before, but this is my personal favorite alien. I also had a piece on ‘post office employees’ for another children’s publication (pictured below).

Another ‘bible stories’ project around this time. This was an ongoing 3-4 year project where I was providing illustrations for a local religious organization’s school curriculum. These three pictured here are a sampling of the 20 or so illustrations I did for this batch in February.
For a catholic publication, I was given an assignment to design a pair of ‘saint cards’ depicting a couple popular fantasy ‘stars’ from popular culture. I didn’t particularly want to do a ‘portrait’ of the movie stars who were currently portraying these characters, but instead tried to ‘redesign’ them myself through the written descriptions.
I also had a piece for a jesuit publication this month, this was a rather straightforward depiction for a story about the eucharist. And coincidentally, I also had a similar illustration assignment from my east coast newspaper client this month (although I dont’ quite remember the exact ‘slant’ of the article I was illustrating).